Process vessels, such as bioreactors, may provide a closed environment for creating mixtures, performing chemical reactions, and/or growing biological cells, among others. For example, bioreactors often are employed to produce pharmaceuticals from engineered cells grown in many liters of culture media. In some cases, the cells placed into a bioreactor may be mammalian cells that grow more slowly than potential sources of contamination, such as bacteria and fungi. In any event, effective sterilization of a process vessel may be fundamental to the successful use of the process vessel without interference from unwanted microorganisms.
Small devices and vessels may be sterilized via gamma irradiation, autoclaving, or other means. Typically, larger process vessels and devices may be sterilized using “steam-in-place” (SIP) sterilization. This sterilization approach may involve connecting a process vessel to a steam source, such as via a conduit(s) and valve(s), to expose the interior volume and interior surfaces of the process vessel to the lethal effect of steam without the need to move the process vessel. Furthermore, the sterilization may be performed repeatedly as different fluid sources are connected to the process vessel. However, the conduit(s) and valve(s) used in connecting the fluid sources may require cleaning and/or re-sterilization between uses, which may be costly and time consuming. Accordingly, new approaches for transferring fluids from fluid sources to process vessels would be beneficial.